


Reunion

by lady_ragnell



Series: Summerpornathon Entries (and Leftovers) 2013 [1]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: F/M, Magical Tattoos, Past Character Death, Post Finale, Team Gluttony
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-07
Updated: 2013-07-07
Packaged: 2017-12-18 00:34:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 858
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/873693
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lady_ragnell/pseuds/lady_ragnell
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Merlin comes back to Gwen.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Reunion

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the first challenge of the summer 2013 summerpornathon, for the "tattoos/body modification" prompt.
> 
> Quite different from the submitted version, due to wordcount reasons, so if you read it in with the entries and are confused now, that's why.

Merlin arrives just as she is beginning to worry that he won’t come at all.

Gwen barely recognizes him, worn and tired as he looks when he walks into her chambers—walks, as though he couldn’t just appear in them, and thinking of magic and Merlin in the same breath is hard, but she knows Merlin would never hurt her. “I thought I’d lost you both,” she says when he doesn’t speak.

“I couldn’t come back. I wasn’t good enough for him, but I will be for you. I had to find a way, and I did.”

“A way for what?”

“A way to protect you.” He’s almost desperate, looking at her, and Gwen wonders what he’s done to himself these past months, in the name of grief and knowledge. “I couldn’t lose you both. When I came back I had to be able to keep you safe.”

She wants to cry. “I am as safe as a queen can be. I’ve needed you.”

“I’m sorry. Please, will you let me? I need to keep you safe, Gwen, I should have had a way to keep him safe, but I can save you.”

“It’s magic?” He flinches. “It’s fine, if it is. I’ve had time to realize all you’ve done for us. Just tell me if it’s safe.”

“It’s safe. I would never hurt anyone else to protect you, but I have to, I need to make sure you live.”

Gwen reaches for his hand, because he won’t touch her, but she needs to touch him, and remind herself that he’s real. “What must I do?”

*

Gwen stands bare before the fireplace as Merlin lays out pots of ink. He’s more the Merlin she knows, with a task in front of him, and she feels more comfortable looking her fill at the way the months have changed him, the scars, the bones standing out against fragile skin. She wonders if the history of her grief is there for him to see, too.

If it is, he doesn’t show it. Sometimes, though, he darts a glance at her, like a starving man shown a feast. Before he begins his work, he only gives her one quick, solemn kiss. It makes her ache.

Merlin paints her skin with brush and ink, his attention on his task, and Gwen stands still for him. He begins with black, careful outlines across her skin, and covers her in color from neck to feet, swirls and spirals that are almost patterns until she looks at them too closely. When that’s done, he stands before her, cupping her face in his hands, eyes bright. “You’ll be safe,” he promises, and starts whispering words that slip from her grasp as easily as the patterns on her skin do.

The ink burns as he speaks, but he warned her of it, and she bites her lip against the pain as it sinks its way into her skin with the force of his magic. He’s protecting her as much as any mortal can be protected, and even as she feels the weight of his magic he seems to go lighter with the knowledge.

“Please,” she gasps when the pain lessens, when he stops speaking, and Merlin covers her mouth with his, kissing like he’s drowning, like the force of their love will make up for the man they’re missing. “Come to bed,” she says between kisses. “I’ve missed you so.”

Merlin holds her hand and follows like he’s forgotten the way to the bed and it’s an impossibly long way away, but Gwen doesn’t want to let go either, and she pulls him into bed when they get there. He lands on top of her in an impossible tangle of limbs, but she doesn’t let him go, just tugs impatiently at his shirt until he understands her and—strips himself with magic, eyes gold and blazing, and even after the protection he wrote into her skin that’s what takes her breath away.

“Inside me,” she demands, and he drives into her like he’s been longing for it as much as she has.

It’s inelegant and messy in a way it never was between them, even in the beginning when they fell into bed laughing and disbelieving at the ease of it all—but there were three of them then. Now, Gwen doesn’t let her hands leave Merlin’s skin, doesn’t let his leave hers, because they’re enough for each other like this, and she’s been so alone. Her body welcomes him, remembers the shape of him. He’s wild above her, his hands everywhere at once, setting her skin tingling where his magic rests. Gwen begs for more, more contact, more of him, and Merlin gives it, his head dropped to rest against the curve of her neck. When she comes, she takes him with her, and it’s like something sliding into place.

After, she wraps her arms around him and lets him run his fingers across her tingling skin. “You’ll be safe,” he promises.

Gwen looks down at the designs marking her skin, the odd sheen of them in the moonlight. “Of course I will be. You’re here now.”


End file.
